Southern Korean Peninsula and East Asia: Centering on the Distribution of Wang Mang’s Coin

Abstract

Centering on the concept of international history in East Asia, this thesis examines the relationship among Xiongnu, Xin, Goguryeo, Nakrang commandery, and the polities on the southern part of the Korean Peninsula through Wang Mang ’ s coin excavated from the southern part of the Korean Peninsula in the early 1st century. Despite the extremely short period of use, a relatively large quantity of Wang Mang ’ s coin has been confirmed. This is a very unusual quantity in comparison to that of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula or northeastern China. The conflict between Goguryeo and the Wang Mang regime derived from the war of Wang Mang regime-Xiongnu. In such conflict, it is possible that the Wang Mang regime paid attention to the polities of the southern Korean Peninsula as its potential alliances. As a result of the upheaval that led to the fall of Western Han and the establishment and collapse of Xin, political control over Nakrang commandery ’ s was relaxed. In this situation, the southern polities of the Korean Peninsula, which had secured military supplies such as iron, would have been an attractive target of negotiation for the Wang Mang regime. In addition, securing tribute envoys was also the lofty ideal of an empire that envisioned an asymmetric world with the emperor at its peak. In this respect, it is assumed that the king of Dongyi, who paid the national treasure across the Great Sea as tribute in the Book of Han, Abstract was likely to be the head of the southern Korean Peninsula ’ s polities that led negotiations with China. Wang Mang ’ s coin in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula is of great significance in that it shows a multi-layered international network in East Asia in the early 1st century.